A recent daily meditation from the Society of Saint John the Evangelist suggests that “even now we are dancing the ‘Dance of the Trinity;' becoming the Light of Christ like the blazing sun; offering our Godliness for the world!”

This year, on February 18th, our Lenten journey began. Even now, from the wilderness to the desolation of the Cross, we see Jesus embracing our humanity, living life to the full and to the depths.
Even now, we are with Jesus tempted and tested in the desert. We are with Jesus as he turns his face to Jerusalem. We search for him as he prays alone at Gethsemane. We, with his friends, betray him at Gethsemane and abandon him at Golgotha.

Even now, during this time of penance and atonement, when “Alleluias” cease to be sung until Easter time: Yes, dance to the wonderful mystery of the Triune God! Yes, become the Light of Christ offering peace and forgiveness to the world!

God is the eternal “Dance of the Trinity,” the dance of love between and among Father, Son and Spirit, bound together in eternal, self-giving relationship, yet three persons intact and unchanged. This relationship is called love. It’s what the Trinity is all about.

The essential, existential nature of God is the profound, complete and pure, free, full and overflowing - Love. This unity and relationship between, among and within the Trinity, form the model of our human dance steps, our relationships and steps in life.

Even now, especially now and always, God invites us into that dance of life, into the relationship with Him and with one another.

There is only one condition to dance with the Trinity, the need to overcome worry about doing all the dance steps right! The only way to enjoy the dance is to let the Triune God captivate our hearts and freely draw us into the dance. God invites us to the dance! An eternal, everlasting invitation! No reservations or passes required! All we have to do is accept the invitation!

Even now, step onto the dance floor of life! Swing into the Dance of the Trinity, the dance of love, giving ourselves, serving, loving and honoring others above ourselves.

Even now, during Lent, we dance together in God to bring compassion to this wounded world. In this dance, we learn to love God, to love and forgive one another. We learn to forgive ourselves.

We are called into the Divine dance, into relationship with God, with each other, and with the community of all God’s creatures. Setting the stage to become people who can live into and live out relationships marked by love and grace.
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“For everything there is a season and a time for every matter under heaven. A time to mourn and a time to dance.” Ecclesiastics 3:4

Every January 25th, we commemorate and re-member St. Paul’s life-changing experience on the way to Damascus. Paul is struck by a great blinding light and Jesus speaks to him. It turns his life inside out. Paul is: Called to be an apostle of Christ (Messiah) Jesus by the will of God” 1Cor 1:1

On this January 25, I posed a question. Why did God choose Paul as the Messiah’s Herald to the Gentiles? Choose Paul! A Pharisee and a determined and zealous persecutor of followers of the Way!

What can anyone know of the mind of God? Whatever I conclude about “why Paul?” is really the result my reflections, inadequate as they are.

Just who is Paul? What manner of man is he? We read, study and contemplate what he said and wrote. We hear preached his Theology, his Christology. We were with him on the road to Damascus when he heard Jesus’ voice. We went with him on his missionary journeys. But what do we know about the man? Actually, not so much for someone so critical to the spread of believers in Jesus of Nazareth as the long-awaited Messiah, Son of God, God’s Word made flesh. We can only look at what he revealed about himself and what others said about him.

Paul is a Jew of the First Century CE, faithful to Israel’s God and Israel’s Law, living and acting within a diverse Jewish world. Acts 21:39 has Tarsus as Paul’s home city. In Paul’s early years, he studies under Gamaliel, a Pharisee and Doctor of Jewish Law. Paul states his studies in Judaism were beyond any of his peers, and he was far more zealous for the traditions of his ancestors. According to tradition, his use of athletic analogies, he may have been a competitive athlete in his youth. Later on, this allows him to withstand the rigors of travel, the beatings and imprisonment he endures for his faith.

Paul becomes a true believer that Jesus of Nazareth, crucified and resurrected in Glory is the Messiah of God. Yet he tells us: “I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin. I hold the same hope in God as the Pharisees in the resurrection of the righteous. I worship the God of my ancestors. I believe in all points of the Law and the prophets.”

He is convicted that: “God set me apart before I was born, called me through Grace, revealed The Son to me, to proclaim Jesus among the Gentiles.”

He explains how he begins to fulfill what God has appointed him to do. “I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, but declared first to those in Damascus, then in Jerusalem and throughout the countryside of Judea, and also to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God and do deeds consistent with repentance.”

He begins to proclaim his message to the followers of Jesus Messiah, to ecclesia (gatherings) of the Way in Judea: “I was still unknown by sight to the churches of Judea that are in Christ; they only heard it said, "The one who formerly was persecuting us is now proclaiming the faith he once tried to destroy. And they glorified God because of me.”

Paul continually advocates for his fellow Jews to come to Jesus Messiah: “In as much then as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I glorify in my ministry in order to make my own people jealous and thus save them. Paul proclaims this of his fellow Jews, “God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew.”

Paul studied, taught, practiced and was zealously faithful to God’s revelations in the Law and the Prophets. He never really changed from this. He believed the man Jesus of Nazareth is the long-awaited Messiah, the fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets.

I reflect that God saw in Paul a man who remained true to God’s revelations and covenants to his ancestors. A man who came to believe in Jesus as the long-expected Messiah of God as a new covenant foretold in the Law and the Prophets. A man who with zeal and convicted faith proclaimed the Good News Of Jesus Messiah.
I found in Psalm 143 verses 5 and 8 that I’m sure Paul knew and could have taken to heart as an ancient hymn foretelling his apostleship.

“I recall the days of old, reflecting on your deeds, I ponder the work of your hands. I stretch out my hands to you, my heart like a land thirsty for you. Let dawn bring news of your faithful love, for I place my trust in you; show me the road I must travel for you to relieve my heart.” 

I recently read in the Fall 2023 issue of Cowley Magazine, SSJE* a personal experience about conflict and tension leading to transformation. It includes a quote from a chapter in the SSJE Rule of Life about tensions in a closed community:

“That same chapter from our Rule of Life goes on to say, ‘tensions and friction are not to be regarded as signs of failure. Christ uses them for our conversion.’ For me, this is a very powerful and important statement. It argues that conflict can be transformative.”

It led me to question whether there is within conflict a connection between tension, community and transformation or change. Are not tensions and friction usually regarded as signs of failure in relationships? How does Jesus use them to change us from un-righteous conflict to the grace of being right with God?

We are created as social beings. We know from experience tensions and conflicts are part of everyday life. It came to me the perpetrators of tension and conflict are us, you and I.  We are complex, fragile, incomplete beings. I believe we need to acknowledge the reality of tension and conflict that mark all forms of human society.
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The ancients reaching back to primeval history and myth tell a story of our first conflict as human beings, a collision of wills, God’s and ours. We disobeyed and ate the apple when God told us not to.

“Then the Lord God said, ‘See, the humans have become like one of us, knowing good and evil, and now they might reach out their hands and take also from the tree of life and eat and live forever’— therefore the Lord God sent them forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from which they were taken. He drove out the humans, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a sword flaming and turning to guard the way to the tree of life.” Genesis 3:22-24

Our first conflict resulted in failure and banishment. Fallen humanity, as the ancients wrote, became subject to sin and death. I believe the misunderstandings, tensions, conflicts we inflict on one another are no different than that original failure.

I also believe that original failure does not continue to subsist in our nature. I see the enemy and it is us not the serpent. The reality is life East of Eden became a lot harder for us to discern God’s will. We still continue willfully to harm our souls in opposition to God’s purpose. This should not be regarded as permanent signs of failure. Christ uses them for our conversion as we grow in mutual forbearance and learn to let go of the pride and hubris that drives us to control and reform on our own terms.

We know with certainty God never gives up on us. Embedded in our failures is a promise: fallen humanity will be redeemed. It was never about the apple, it was about Jesus, the seed of woman, who tramples Satan under his feet.

“I will put enmity between you and the women, between your offspring and hers; he will strike your head,” Genesis 3:15

How do we learn to let go of the pride that drives us to control and reform each other on our own terms? Are we not living again in that devastating conflict of wills, God’s and ours?

Jesus recognizes this and warns us, to follow him, we must seek reconciliation and forgiveness when we are in conflict with someone.

“So, when you are offering your gift at the altar, if you remember your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go; first to be reconciled to your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift. Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are on your way to court with him.” Matthew 5:23-25

Paul certainly recognized the Ephesians propensity, and ours, to forget the baptismal promises leading to tension and real conflict in their church or in any community.

“Put away from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice. 32 Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you.” Ephesians 4:31

We are asked to empty ourselves of anger, argument, apathy and bitterness and, in their place, pour into our lives forgiveness, reconciliation and compassion. And every time we do this God gifts us saving Grace.
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“Have nothing to do with stupid and senseless controversies, you know that they breed quarrels. And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kindly to everyone, an apt teacher, correcting opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant that they will repent and come to know the truth.” 2 Timothy 23-25

Finally, how does conflict and tension lead to transformation individually and in community? How does Jesus use them to turn us from un-righteous conflict to righteousness and grace?

So, to answer my questions, I believe change does take place in the aftermath of tension, argument and conflict. Jesus shows us the way from unrighteousness to righteousness. Conflict leads to communi-cation; communication leads to reconciliation; reconciliation leads to repentance; repentance leads to forbearance, forgiveness, kindness, agape love!

Jesus taught us to pray this: “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

*Society of St. John the Evangelist (SSJE)  

It is my hope those not fully into the sport of baseball as I am will appreciate with a good heart the analogy I propose. My experiences as a fan of baseball and following a particular team are most analogues to my experiences of God. I believe this analogy can be applied to other sports as well. Since this is my reflection, I chose baseball.

“The one constant through all the years has been baseball. But baseball has marked the time. This game; it's a part of our past. It reminds us of all that once was good, and that could be again.”

The game of baseball or any sport for those who pay attention to such things can, I believe, be associated with the great spiritual gifts: faith, hope and love.

The professional baseball season occurs mostly during the church’s Ordinary Time. Ordinary Time has two parts: from after the feast of the Epiphany to the day before Ash Wednesday; then from the Monday after Pentecost to the first Sunday of Advent. This church season gives us plenty of time; time to strengthen our relationship with God and Christ Jesus, to build relationships in worship, community and service.

Baseball season has two parts; spring training and the regular season. Like Ordinary Time baseball takes its time. Spring training begins with hope and expectations that development and growth in baseball skills will result in a winning season. Maybe going “all the way.”  Play in the regular season counts in the standings until all play ends and then the World Series.

The baseball season and Ordinary Time are full of hope and expectation. Believing and doubting are at the core of religion and baseball.

Worship during ordinary time is the expectation and the hope that the mystery of Christ penetrates ever more deeply into our hearts, until we are caught up in a continuing, loving relationship with Christ.
There are times, in the Eucharist, when Jesus himself offers me His Body in the bread, His Blood in the wine; when in the Chapel praying to Our Lord that healing will happen, I have a palpable sense of presence, a mystery no words can explain. A feeling that somehow for that moment, faith is at its core, certainty dispels doubt.

As the 2004 American league championship seven game series went to a fourth game, I had an agonizing foreboding that my team would suffer a humiliating loss. They won the series at the last possible moment. That unbelievable ending, that moment, was sacred for me, an intense experience, ineffable at its core, a feeling there were higher forces at work.

Some experiences are unexplained, revealing moments of intense feeling too overwhelming to be expressed in words. These are the sacred connections between the joys of loving baseball and the joys of a spiritual life.

It seems to me we continuously search for meaning in persons, things and places capable of connecting us as believers to the sacred. Each one of us in our own time, place and context make a choice separating what is sacred for each one of us and what is not sacred.
When the sacred shows up in certain things and actions, we are lifted up to the spiritual plane. We are connected to where the sacred shines through. It becomes for us an ineffable religious experience. How can we explain this experience? There are no words that explain the sacred.

Faith is a gift from God. What we do with that gift is one of the central challenges in life. A religious tradition and love for a baseball team’s tradition, as time passes, will be doubted and tested. And the reaffirmation of that tradition comes with joy and thanksgiving, something lyrical and mysterious. The joy of confirmed faith, grace upon grace; the joy of a spiritual life; the joy of an impossible win at the last moment.

“A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap: for the measure you give will be the measure you get back”

I recently read an essay about “practicing vulnerability.”

I wondered why would anyone open themselves to becoming vulnerable? And, how do we practice vulnerability? Why would we leave our ego, our pride, open to challenge and even rejection? Why would we reveal our weaknesses, our innocence to anyone for their advantage?

An important question in our commitment to follow Christ is: did Jesus practice vulnerability? I found in Paul’s letter to the church in Philippi a text that he did in the way only Jesus could have done.

Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death – even death on a cross.” Philippians 2:1-3

Regard Jesus’s self-emptying himself (kenosis): Jesus, truly God and truly human, in order to live as he did in his human nature, voluntarily humbled himself. He did not use his divine personhood as the Son to avoid experiencing the realities of human pain and death, of human weakness, human needs and human vulnerabilities.

I believe he tested his human vulnerability when he risked choosing among his friends and disciples humble fishermen, sinners, society’s castaways or when he boldly expressed new interpretations of the Torah and the prophets. I believe he tested his Sonship to the Father as he went about his God appointed ministry to proclaim God’s kingdom with power and authority.

Only in error do we attribute weakness here to Jesus. The paradox is that vulnerability requires strength of character, self-confidence and firm grounding. For Jesus, his strength was his Father’s love: “This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. Listen to him.” 

I began to reflect on our own humanness in relation to vulnerability. I believe in our relationships with God, with creation, with all humanity, practicing vulnerability creates a sense of belonging essential to experience a real connection. To me this is contrary to acting as the proud loner, afraid to or unable to connect, to dismiss the value of others.

“Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better then yourselves.”

We open ourselves to be vulnerable when we look for certainty, for social acceptance, being open to questions, exploring possibilities, acting with freedom and inhibition. Vulnerability is willing to risk showing deep emotions, to provide honest expressions without fear of ridicule. Being vulnerable allows us to build trust, to love with intimacy. Being vulnerable requires feeling safe when choosing companions and friends as a sign of honesty and emotional intelligence.

Being vulnerable fosters the ability to understand and manage our own emotions in positive ways, to relieve stress, communicate effectively, empathize with others, overcome challenges and defuse conflict. Remember when James and John apart from the ten ask Jesus to grant them to sit on his right and his left in his glory. This immediately resulted in anger among the other ten disciples.

Jesus understood resentment and strife among his disciples was a danger to his and their ministry. Jesus’ answer to them was clear and unequivocal. I believe his answer is a lesson for us in humility and how to practice vulnerability. “Whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave to all. For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many. Mark 10: 43-45

The liturgy for the ordination of a deacon includes a promise and a prayer that still calls me even now and, I believe calls all of us to practice vulnerability, and how to live in Christ; the promise: “look for Christ in all others, being ready to help and serve those in need.”; the prayer: “Oh Lord, make me/us modest and humble, strong and constant to observe the discipline of Christ that through me/us many may come to know you and love you.”
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And the echo of his voice persists down through the ages and passes on to us: “Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,.”
 

​I changed the title of this reflection from “Wisdom and Mystery” to Mystery and Wisdom!"  I’m not sure why I did that. What should come first? Do we first contemplate the mystery and then apply wisdom to try see what it means to us? Or do we engage whatever wisdom gained from life’s experiences and insights, then seek what meaning there is to the mystery?

From Sirach (1: 1,5,9), all Wisdom is: “from the Lord and with him it remains forever. It is he who created her; he poured her out upon all his works, upon all the living according to his gift. Wisdom was created before all other things. The source of wisdom is God’s word and her ways are the eternal commandments.” 

Mystery is what remains unexplained or unknown; or any truth unknowable except from divine revelation. Paul in Romans 11:33; 13:12 exclaims the wonderful reality about the mystery of God: “O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgements and how inscrutable are his ways!  For now, we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I am fully known.”

I don’t consider myself wise. I was always and still am curious about many things, looking for answers; lately about how life’s events, life’s twists and turns happened and continue to happen. When I consider the basic things, I believe there is still mystery of how the universe happened; how life began, along with theory and explanation. The reality is most of what we know, the sacred as well as the secular, is provisional and incomplete. Yet, I believe there are truths that are absolute about which we can neither make greater or less. I also believe it is good to have mystery in one’s life. Mystery harbors wonder and curiosity.

Our Christian faith is replete with mystery. Wisdom is God’s gift that invites us, on our faith journey, to continue to probe, in faith, the divine mystery of God. Yet there is mystery that can become known, and mystery beyond our ken. And there is mystery worthy of our faith. Such mystery I believe lies beyond the reach of faith but gives clarity to our complete trust in God’s purposes.

I believe Wisdom wants us to grow into the heart of this mystery we call God; and just contemplate with thanksgiving this wonderful gift of being fully known and fully knowing finally in our next life what we dreamed of, waited and hoped for.  “Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, and which have not entered the heart of man, all that God has prepared for those who love Him.” 1Corinthians 2:9

Wisdom is divinely appointed to act in the world. I believe she invites us to a way of life that is in harmony with the created order and with God's redemptive work in the world through Christ Jesus.
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A sign of wisdom is acknowledging the reality we are not God, and God is pure and ultimate Mystery. In our faith journey, in surrender, we humbly acknowledge we do not and cannot know this on our own. This surrender is at the heart of our Christian journey. Concern and anxiety about the problems we encounter in our lives shouldn’t deter us from the journey. We will find God eternally faithful and steadfast in his love for us.

“Lord, Grant that all who share this bread and cup may become one body and one spirit, a living sacrifice in Christ”; “Eternal God, heavenly Father, you have graciously accepted us as living members of your Son our Savior Jesus Christ” BOCP

How do we become “one body and one spirit” in Christ? What does it mean to be “living members” of Christ Jesus? Does this mean we continue as Christ in the world? How do we do that? We’re only human or will we be different? Will God give us grace and strength to do his work here?

When I searched the letters by St. Paul, by others in his name, I found texts about what happens and how when the Spirit (of God, of Christ) enter into us, live in us and we become members of Christ’s body.

Romans (12:4-5) “For as one body we have many members . . . . so we who are many are one body in Christ and individually we are members one of another.”

1 Corinthians (12:12,27; 15:45) for just as the body is one and has many members and all the members of that body, though many, are one body and so it is with Christ. Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.” “The Spirit of Christ, is life giving. We receive the “life giving Spirit” of Christ at baptism.”

Galatians (2:20, 3:27,29); “It is no longer I who live but it is Christ who lives in me.” “As many of you as were baptized have clothed yourselves with Christ . . . . .for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.”

Ephesians (4: 1-16) “we must “grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ.”

Colossians 2: 6, “As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him . . .”

As I reflected on these texts, I realized and believe we become a different being at baptism. We are infused with Christ’s life-giving Spirit. His Spirit envelopes us as well as lives within us. At baptism, God appoints us to be Christ. We are now who he is, embodied in him and he in us.

Paul speaks of the many members of one body; though many, all are one body in Christ. To me it means we are encompassed in Christ corporately and individually: I am in Christ; we are in Christ. Paul’s reality is that God has taken all sorts of flesh and blood human bodies and knit them together into an organic whole.

I believe we now exist in a different realm: a new reality, a new life in Christ’s body, here where we are; every day, every hour, every moment in time - we are him. To me this way of being in Christ is not metaphorical. It is a reality grounded in our trust and faith in Christ Jesus.
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So, what do I, we do now? What exactly am I, are we appointed by God to do being Christ in our world?  We each have different gifts and callings. Each of us and all of us are in the body of Christ. We all are infused with the same Spirit. We all are given the same gift of faith through the same baptism. I am, we are called to use our gifts, to respond to God’s appointment as God’s herald spreading the good news of God in Christ; to be Christ individually and in community. We are called to love and serve God, actively building up the body of Christ with intention, with compassion, with love. I, we can only do this with God’s help. I ask for God’s grace to do this every day.

“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” Timothy 3:16-17)

Paul’s reminder to Timothy plainly means to me all Scripture is written with the Holy Spirit breathing wisdom and knowledge into the minds of the writers and editors of the Gospels, as they interpret oral tradition from witnesses of actual events. In the same manner, the Jewish prophets in their writings responded to the inspiration of the Holy Spirit who “spoke through the Prophets.”

Every word of Scripture is an expression of the Incarnate Word taken up and into Scripture’s human writers. Scripture, more than a reflection of history’s processes, more than a witness to the Word, lives in the very being of God. Its language is eternal.

How should we read Scripture so the plain truth embedded in the message emerges and sheds light on the meaning for us and inspires us? I think a good beginning is to clear out the noises of the day and ask the Holy Spirit for wisdom and patience. Reading the Bible can be daunting when our purpose is to try to comprehend and understand how the message in the text relates to our inner spiritual life and our relationship to others and to the world around us.

How do we interpret biblical texts from a personal perspective that would affect our lives? How do we internalize the meanings of the events depicted in the narratives: from Abraham forward and from witnesses to Jesus’ life and ministry?  How do what we see as imperatives from our interpretation of biblical texts operate in our daily lives?

Lectio Divina, divine reading, is a meditative way of reading the Bible. “Divine reading” can make it less daunting and will help answer those “how” questions. 

Seek out the “plain meaning” of the biblical text. Not every passage of Scripture should be interpreted literally. To find the real message in the narrative or the event depicted we may have to excavate the true meaning when the author uses allegories or metaphors or parables. Importance is not given to the actual story but to a perceived deeper meaning behind the story.

Lectio Divina is a way of arriving at a truth, a way to look for the moral aspects behind any text, to unwind the multiple layers of meanings.

We concentrate with intentional breathing in the Holy Spirit. We open ourselves, our very being, to what we perceive God is saying to us. It may be that each one of us see different meanings. We are all on our own journey.

Practice the five Steps of Lectio Divina:

​Reading. Read a passage slowly and carefully.

Meditation. Think deeply, dwell on what you see as the spiritual reality within the text.

Prayer. Pray to the Holy Spirit, immerse yourself in her presence, asking for wise discernment. Have a loving conversation with God.

Contemplation. Meditate on the meanings you perceive in the text. Reflect on how that affects your life; what real actions for you are implied in the text. Then Rest in God’s presence.

“In the beginning God began to create . . .” 
The book of Genesis begins with mythical and legendary primeval stories of how things came to exist. These narratives look back in time to the beginnings of the cosmos and of the first humans to the one true creator God intervening in creation and human history. They reflect Israel’s foundational beliefs. All Christian, Judaic and Islamic Scripture and tradition developed and written over centuries begin here.

“In the Beginning was The Big Bang.”
From telescopes in deep space, data prove Galaxies, everything in space, are moving away from each other in an expanding universe. Looking back in time from this data to about fifteen thousand million years ago, the universe began from a singular concentrated state in an explosive expansion of matter. All matter, everything that ever exists in the space/time continuum, comes from this explosive beginning called “The Big Bang.”

Faith tells me the one true God creates and sustains all things, seen and unseen, from the very beginning of space and time. From that beginning, God continually sends forth the Spirit of wisdom and love into the universe, into human history, into us and renews all things.
Science tells me the “big bang” is a valid theory that space and time begins at that singularity; the very beginning of all matter, including over eons of time evolution of all living things, leading to us.

Everything that ever exists comes from that explosive beginning.
Here are two concepts that seem opposed to each other that I believe are both true realities of how everything came to be: that God from the beginning created all things, and the scientific conclusion that it all started with the “big bang.”

We might ask why did the universe begin in this way; an explosive expansion of matter from a single concentrated point?  We might ask why did God, perfect in every way, in need of nothing outside of himself, who exists before time and space, decided to create all this and in this way?

I don’t think these are the right questions. We should ask what is the meaning to all this? First there was nothing, then there was something. And for all we know there will always be something.
Common sense tells us time moves forward. The universe and all life are on a cosmic trajectory ever forward in time and space. I think the meaning of the universe and of life is encompassed in the mystery of what is to come in the forward flow of time. I believe that mystery lies in God’s love for all creation.

God continually renews creation from the beginning not by immutable design but by allowing creation to happen and to move forward. From our beginning God gifted us free will allowing us to self-design our own lives for good or ill. We can only anticipate with patience and faith what the future will be. We can only depend on God’s wisdom and love that allows creation and us to move toward what is to come.
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And what is to come, based on Faith, trusting in God’s word through Christ Jesus, is eternal and abundant life abiding in God’s inexhaustible love with him.

“The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”  John 3:8

Could it be? Paul Simon, songwriter and singer, a modern psalmist? “God comes up a lot in my songs.” Paul Simon quote

The word “psalm’ comes from the Greek “psalmos,” in Hebrew “mizmor,” a song recited to the accompaniment of a stringed instrument. Psalms are sung poetic songs, extended musical compositions. Many of Simon’s lyrics to me meet that definition. Most of the songs sung by Simon and Garfunkel are accompanied by guitars.

Most likely it wasn’t the powerful wind of Pentecost that opened his mind to the Spirit as he wrote his songs. Did the Spirit come to him as a soft, quiet breeze, an inspirational presence, a gift, a mysterious, intentional act of God? The Spirit “blows where it chooses,” and we do not know when or where or how.

Simon and Garfunkel’s greatest hit, “Bridge Over Troubled Water” (1970), to me meets the definition of a psalm. You can hear in their combined voice as they soar and sweep in this great panegyric of hope and sacrifice, a hymn, a psalm, to be sung and read aloud.
Could it be, these verses from The Book of Psalms prefigure these lyrics: “Sing to him a new song: play skillfully on strings; with loud shouts”  Psalm 33:3; or “I will sing to the Lord for he has dealt bountifully with me.”?  Psalm 13: 6

“When you’re weary feeling small. When tears are in your eyes. I will dry them all. I’m on your side. When times get rough. And friends just can’t be found.  Like a bridge over troubled water I will lay me down Like a bridge over troubled water I will lay me down.
When you’re down and out. When you’re on the street. When evening falls so hard, I will comfort you.  I’ll take your part.
When darkness comes, and pain is all around.  Like a bridge over troubled water.  I will lay me down. Like a bridge over troubled water. I will lay me down.
Sail on, silvergirl. Sail on by.  Your time has come to shine.  All your dreams are on their way.  See how they shine. If you need a friend, I’m sailing right behind. Like a bridge over troubled water. I will ease your mind. Like a bridge over troubled water, I will ease your mind.”

Every time I hear this song, I know Jesus, the one who died for me, the one God raised up for me, is speaking to me: “I will lay me down;" “I will comfort you;” “I am right behind you;” “I will dry your tears;” “I’m on your side;" “I will take your part;” “I will ease your mind;” “I will lay me down.”

In today’s world, on our faith journey we sail through troubled water. But we sail on, and with prayerful discernment, we look in unfamiliar places, listen to unfamiliar voices. Voices that we find somehow in mystery and wonder speak to us of God’s grace and of God’s gift of uncompromising love in Christ Jesus.

Post Script:
“And here’s to you, Mrs. Robinson. Jesus loves you more than you will know, God bless you please, Mrs. Robinson. Heaven holds a place for those who pray,”